Analysis: VeriSilicon's HD audio IP solution

The term "high definition audio" can mean different things to different people. For Verisilicon, "HD audio" refers to the audio requirements assocaited with digital high-definition TV (HDTV), high-definition optical media (Blu-ray and HD DVD), and games (Playstation 3 for Blu-ray, Xbox 360 for HD DVD) that support such media.

VeriSilicon's VZ.AudioHD platform builds on the company's earlier VZ.Audio platform. The VZ.AudioHD platform includes optimized software for many of the required compression algorithms. Verisilcon acquired the "ZSP" family of DSP cores from LSI Logic in 2006. The ZSP family includes a large number of DSP cores aimed at a wide variety of markets including portable audio players, DVD players, personal music players, VoIP hardware, and other wired and wireless communications devices.

The ZSP800 core is shown in the figure. VeriSilicon claims that the ZSP800 provides sufficient performance to enable single-core solutions for demanding HD audio applications.

Figure 1. VeriSilicon'sZSP800 core

Verisilicon's primary business is designing custom SoCs for applications such as consumer electronics. For these designs, Verisilicon uses a portolio of its own IP blocks and IP blocks (such as ARM cores) licensed from other IP providers. In addition, Verisilicon offers the ZSP cores and associated IP for licensing to chip developers who wish to create their own designs.

For more details on VeriSilicon's New Silicon IP Solution, see InsideDSP.